The widespread availability of the World Wide Web and related data processing and communication technologies have created new ways for businesses to market their products and services to their customers. Among the many new businesses that have taken advantage of the capabilities of the Web are printing service providers. Typically, these companies allow customers to access the printing service provider's web site, input customer information or other content, and place an order for custom printed products such as documents, clothing, and promotional goods. Systems that allow a client to access a printing service provider's web site, download a product template, create a customized product, and display an image of the final product to the customer are known in the prior art.
One network-based product design system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,011 entitled “Computerized Prepress”. The patent discloses a document authoring tool that is downloaded from a server and runs in the client browser. The product created by the client is uploaded to the server where it is processed by a translation program into a prepress file format. Another system is disclosed in co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,433, issued Nov 8, 2003 and entitled “Managing Print Jobs”, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The system discloses a downloadable editing tool that allows a customer to create and edit materials in the customer's browser. The system makes a number of pre-designed product templates available for customer viewing, downloading, and customizing.
These prior art capabilities are, however, limited in some regards. In the prior art, the ability to create an image of a customized product that depicts the ultimate appearance of the product and can be previewed by the client during the design process is generally limited to (a) the entry, modification and positioning of the client's custom text, (b) the selection of an image from a library of pre-designed images provided by the service provider, and/or (c) the uploading and incorporation of a pre-existing client image. Known prior art systems do not provide the capability to take various separate component images and colors selected by a client and combine them automatically into one or more integrated component images that are then incorporated into the product image being viewed by the client during the product design process.
For example, a Web-based enterprise operating as CustomInk.com allows a client to select and view a photographic image of a product such as an item of clothing, a tote bag, a mouse pad, or a cap. The system provides the ability for the client to enter, modify and position text within a predetermined area on the photographic image. The system also provides the ability for the client to upload a client image file or to select from a library of pre-designed images provided by the service. The color of the pre-designed image can be selected from a palette of available colors and, in general, the pre-designed images can be positioned and resized. This prior art system does not provide a means for the generation of integrated composite images from image components.
In the particular field of custom return address labels, an example of a prior art system is the Web-based enterprise operating as FamilyLabels.com. Users of this service select one or more completed head designs from a library of pre-designed heads for people and animals. The user then selects a desired skin color and selects any desired additional features for each head, such as glasses and facial hair, by marking desired items on an accompanying list of available colors and features. A notice on this Web site states that this system is not able to show a composite image for previewing. The user of this prior art system must place an order for the product without having been able to view an on-screen image of the final product design.